Dallas 2.0: Discussion Thread

[Khan]

Fine, just please don't post anymore photos of her (we're talking about Joan Van Ark, right?). She's disturbing to look at. No lie.

[SFK]

Jordana Van Ark!

[StevieM]

Here are a few predictions:

The show will actually revisit the Lucy/Ray sexual history. John Ross may find out and try to blackmail them with it.

Rebecca will turn out to be Cliff and Afton's daughter, Pamela Rebecca Cooper. That sort of makes her makes her Christopher's cousin, but they weren't raised together as cousins, and they aren't biologically related. I'm not sure how her brother ties in. Maybe they really are brother and sister, with him being a later child of Afton's with someone else.

The show may do a revision/re-adjustment of history and say that Christopher is JR's biological son after all. That revelation could take a few seasons. Also, I would love it if they tied that reveal into the return of Pam, perhaps saying that she was blackmailed into leaving in order to protect this secret. I realize that this might seem a bit of a stretch, but it would be less of a rewrite than it was to make Richard into Angela's son on Falcon Crest.

[BKuzak]

I like Brenda Strong and i know Victoria Principal didn't want to be apart of Dallas anymore after that season in the 80's so i say F her, keep Pamela dead! I don't think Dallas fans would accept a recast so Brenda Strong is the best solution.

I agree that there will be something going on about Christopher's adoption. I mean it was hardly mentioned in the last several years of dallas after Pam and Bobby told him but then right away in the new one it was Jon Ross who reminded him he was adopted. I don't know if John Ross knows that Christopher is Sue Ellen's nephew which makes him family anyway...just not a Ewing by Blood.

and i don't know what John Ross meant when he said Sue Ellen left him in boarding schools for years and years. It would have only been between 1991 when he left to go visit Sue Ellen and 1996 when he came back to Southfork when Sue Ellen ended up returning and taking over Ewing Oil. I don't think JR would have let his son go to Boarding schools after that.

I just wish they resembled the old set a little more. Maybe in season two they will have a different set like they did in the original Dallas.

[Roman]

I mean no disrespect at all, but I can't say that the show blows after 2 episodes. Maybe this is what others mean by alot of fans have no patience to let stories run their course and to see what happens. There are still 8 episodes to go, and I'm there until the end of this run. To me, it can't be the Dallas I remembered than ended in '91. For 2012 I love this new Dallas. I would be so bored if an 80 year old J.R. went back to sleeping with women and screwing over every single person like back in the day. I want to see that happen but PLEASE let him have grown a little. And I want and saw a glimpse of the powerful Sue Ellen who made the film and left with Don. As far as VP? She can stay far away as far as I'm concerned. She would do nothing but hijack the entire show, then when she up and left again, what would be said then about her?

For the first time in years I'm actually excited for a scripted drama based on an original classic, and not having to change the channel to avoid these God-awful reality shows (which many have writers BTW). Bring people back if it makes sense, and not just to do some cameo and then leave. I don't blame Ted for not coming back.

[DRW50]

She stayed with Dallas for quite a few years. I'm not sure if she'd just up and leave if she came back. Even if she was only in one episode I can't imagine her being worse than any new actors on this show. Then again, if they don't even have any plans for Sue Ellen, and originally tried to pretend Cliff never existed, then vets are better off staying away.

[YRBB]

I get what you're saying, but I don't think that's how it is.

I don't think it's because fans don't have patience to see the stories run their course. One does not really need to wait for the whole season to make a decision on what they think about how well episodes 1 and 2 were written. If you wait for all the episodes, then you can judge it as a season, but if you just look at the scripts for episodes 1 and 2, the show is clearly, at best, mediocre. Therefore, with what we have now, one can very fairly say (if they feel so, which I do not) that the show blows. Even if, by say, episode 5, the show has a miraculous climbing up of quality, that won't change the fact that the earlier episodes sucked/were not very good/were mediocre, etc.

[Soapsuds]

I don't think the show is that awful as some think it is. I mean it can't be worse than the last two seasons of Dallas...that was dreadful. I mean really Susan Lucci ...a killer....I'm falling here on the floor laughing just thinking about it....one false move and she is dead...really La Lucci?? I mean Larry might have not liked Barbara C.'s Angelica Nero but she was much more scary than skinny mini Susan Balushi.....LOL...

Patrick Duffy did say that the writers and the cast(meaning the vets) thought of this as Dallas Season 14. If I really had to complain about something besides Hispanic Christopher is the interior of the house...hate it....I remember the reunion special a while back...not sure how old it was...and the set look different..in lighting....ummmm....sofa...etc..etc...but it still looked like Southfork in the interior...now it doesnt at all except the exterior sets...still the same and I love it!

As for Victoria...there were rumors all over the place that she didnt get along with Hagman...and then with the rest of the cast......Not sure if the cast part is correct but I could see how she and Hagman could clash. I would love to see her back even for a brief visit.

[Mr. Vixen]

Maybe she didn't get along with them, but I know that VP called Larry when she found out he was sick. Or so I heard.

[Chris B]

Oh I disagree with this completely. I thought the final two seasons were great. There was a lot of hit and miss in those later seasons, but lots of good stuff as well. I loved the first post-Pam season with Ray's affair, Clayton and Ellie fighting over Laurel, Lucy's return towards the end and then you have Sue Ellen shooting JR which was the end of a great season long story arc. The next season is the one with the Hallyville stuff which is DREADFUL, but as soon as JR and Cally got back to Dallas I was hooked. I loved Cathy Podewell, who would've made a brilliant Lucy. She fit the story and the canvas well. Loved her chemistry with Lucy, Sue Ellen and Miss Ellie. Also, it's believable a rich older man would have a child bride, and the writing didn't ignore that fact.

In general I don't think the later seasons get a fair shot. Most of the time people don't talk about their favorite or least favorite stories, they talk about how Pam, Donna and other characters have been written out as the main complaint. If you judge them on their own merits they aren't bad. ANd I certainly don't see how people can hate the later seasons, hate that new characters were brought on, yet they are in love with this new series lol. Makes no sense.

[quartermainefan]

Jon Ross and Christopher are real Ewings and count. I don't even remember who Laurel was. There is also the simple aspect of just happy to see the Ewings after 20 years so the quality doesn't have to be as high as if it was a new show judged strictly on its merits. Is that JR flirting with Sue-Ellen? Sold! I don't care what actress played Callie or whether or not April and Casey Denault were lovers, they are not JR and Sue-Ellen. I would much rather see Marilee Stone than these fake Dallas stars from the later years. I would rather watch Mandy Winger, Afton Cooper, Dusty Farlowe, and Jordan Lee (RIP). These were real Dallas characters. Callie took a wrong turn trying to get to the Green Acres reunion.

[Khan]

Presuming that having Bobby married again in the new series is for the best, was Brenda Strong really and truly the best the producers could find to fill Ann Ewing's shoes? Or did they hire her, because most savvy TV-philes know she's the narrator from "Desperate Housewives"?

I think it's best to say that the post-series reunion movies are not part of the new series' backstory. (Yep, that's DALLAS for you. Always leaving out [!@#$%^&*] they'd just as soon as forget.)

[Chris B]

Melissa Gilbert was runner up, which I believe was mentioned in Cynthia Cidre's Ultimate Dallas interview. How I don't know lol. The casting really baffles me honestly. I'm not sure what kind of pool they had to pick from. Considering Dallas was a big deal and it's on TNT, you'd think they'd have a more high profile group of actors to pick from. Even daytime soaps are getting more recognizable names and stronger talent.

I really don't understand your thinking. You love the new series with a largely new cast, yet you dislike the later seasons because they have so many new characters. What's the difference? That's what I'm not understanding from what you're saying. April was brought in when the show was still doing very well and was a popular character. Her chemistry with JR and Bobby was strong (and well received) so they brought on a sister. That makes sense from a writing perspective. Cally was JR's wife, so obviously she wasn't related to anybody. She also was somebody for Lucy and James to interact with. No different from Afton, Mandy, etc. being brought on.

And lets not forget Sue Ellen was done as a character YEARS before she was written off and Sue Ellen and JR were tiresome since like 1984...

[DRW50]

Melissa Gilbert! Wow! No wonder the casting is so bad. Who else was in consideration, Yasmine Bleeth?

[ChitHappens]

I'd rather they had put a shoe lace in hair and make up and see what happens than to have to watch Brenda Strong. She was even boring as a narrator.

And I still want to know who Jesse Metcalf blew to get this job. He's got the presence of a hair pin. They are clearly going for the younger crowd which is why the weak ass younger set is such a disappointment.

That said, give me JR and I'll keep quiet.

ANDREA

Its as if they began by scraping the bottom of the barrel. They didn't even shoot higher it seems. Half Pint? WTF!